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Summary:
Local-healthy-organic-artistic-community-loving couple seeking another like-minded couple to share spacious Oakland home and garden. The rent is $1150 and includes a bedroom, another room that could be used as an office/workspace and shared use of the meditation/movement space, kitchen, living room and bathrooms. Shared meals ala Weston A Price, shared gardening including chickens, and shared intention of inching ourselves closer to sustainable living. Wanting to live with others who are tidy, openly communicative and committed to living cooperatively. Move-in date is negotiable, sometime between May 1st to June 1st.
The House:
The main house is approximately 1900 sq. feet with wood floors, natural light, a living room, large meditation/movement room, and two rooms that were designed as bedrooms but are currently being used as offices/workspaces. In the back is a large “cottage-style” studio bedroom with separate entrance, and on the ground floor we recently built another bedroom which also has a separate entrance.
The kitchen is spacious and well-equipped, with a sweet little breakfast nook. There is one full bathroom and another half-bath. We also have a full-size clawfoot tub with hot & cold water spigots in a cozy corner in the garden that we use for outdoor “Esalen-style” baths.
There is a large basement with plenty of space for storage, bikes, equipment etc., as well as washer, dryer and additional freezer.
We have a large backyard garden where we grow a variety of vegetables, herbs and flowers year-round. It gets a good deal of sun and the soil has been tested and is free of heavy metals and chemicals. We also have a small garden in the front of the house.
Your Rooms:
The idea behind the arrangement of rooms is to have private bedrooms that are separated from the main living space of the house. This allows for more privacy and a sense of us each having our own space, while still enjoying the benefits of sharing a large house. Your bedroom would be a recently converted room on the ground-floor with a large, floor-to-ceiling “french door” that opens into the garden. It's a bit funky but it has a lot of character, and it is quite spacious. It also has a small sink with working plumbing and a separate entrance from the main house.
You would also get a room in the house that is approximately 12x15 with a small closet that sits directly off of the kitchen. This room could be used as an office, a workspace, a quiet space, or whatever you’d like to use it for (other than a bedroom). We share the meditation/movement space (gorgeous, large room in the front of the house), and all other living spaces.
The Neighborhood:
The house is situated in a friendly, centrally-located neighborhood right on the border of Oakland and Berkeley. We are two blocks from Ashby Bart and a block from the Nomad Cafe, La Pena Cultural Center, the Starry Plough, Essex St. Hot Tubs. We are walking distance from Berkeley Bowl, Whole Foods and the Tuesday Berkeley Farmer’s Market, and a short bike ride to the Saturday Berkeley Farmer’s Market and the Sunday Oakland/Temescal Farmer’s Market. We are part of a local co-op offering raw milk, raw cheese and free-range, organic meats and pastured eggs, and the pick-up location for this is just two blocks away.
We’ve found that we rarely need to use our car anymore, but when we do freeway access to the 24/580 is very close by and parking is readily available on the street.
Kitchen/Food:
We both follow the Weston A. Price principles of nutrition and eat a diet of organic, nutrient-dense whole foods. We make our own sauerkraut, kefir, yogurt, creme fraiche, and bone broths and bake our own bread regularly. We cook three meals a day for ourselves, so the kitchen is the hub of the home and the center of frequent activity. It is also a temple, of sorts, and we like to treat it like one. Dishes are washed and counters are cleaned after they are used, and our guideline is to leave the kitchen in the same state as we found it (clean!) before we started cooking.
Our relationship to food is a very important part of our life, and we would like to share those values with the people we live with. Ideally we are seeking a couple who is familiar with the Weston A. Price principles and follows them in their own life. Among other things, this means eating locally-grown, organic, nutrient-dense foods. Our hope is that you will be open to sharing meals together and sharing the weekly preparation of ferments (kefir, sauerkraut, yogurt, etc.) and bone broths as well.
We aren’t dogmatic about this and we don’t make personal judgments about people who don’t follow this approach to nutrition. We have many close friends who do not. However, we’ve found through experience that the home is more harmonious when its inhabitants share a hearth.
We are also intent on producing as much food as we can in our own yard. We would love to share our home with others who garden. We are planning to get chickens and would be happy to have your involvement in the care and rewards of these little feathered friends.
Living Together:
We are both what you might call “homebodies”. We both do at least part of our work from home, and with our love of food and cooking we spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Because of this we try to treat our home as a sanctuary and maintain a warm, comfortable and nourishing environment that serves as a “retreat” from the intensity of urban life.
Communication and personal responsibility are very important to us. We’ve both lived in community a lot over the years and recognize the necessity and benefit of having regular “check-ins” and house meetings to discuss issues as they arise and to simply stay connected to and present with each other.
We share weekly, rotating chores and contribute to the upkeep and general maintenance of the house.
Both of us are keenly aware of how resource depletion and climate change are effecting our environment and economy, and we make an effort to live consciously and minimize our impact. We compost, recycle, re-use plastic bags, avoid buying things packaged in plastic where possible, hang clothes on the line when the weather permits, ride bicycles, walk or use public transportation and try to reduce water use. We’re not zealots about this, and there are certainly areas where we could improve our efforts. But we’d like to live with folks who share an intention to live a more sustainable life.
We have a piano and welcome music in the home. We also enjoy playing games and inviting friends over for meals or tea, although lately we’ve been so busy that we haven’t had much time for social gatherings. We also have a television that we use to watch DVDs - no cable. The TV sits in a beautiful wood cabinet and is not an intrusive presence in the house.
We both go to bed and wake up early. While it’s not necessary that you do the same, we aren’t big fans of noisy house parties that go until late! Our bedroom is in a separate building in the back, however, so normal socializing in the house at late hours isn’t an issue.
Who We Are:
Elanne: 38-years old, Feldenkrais practitioner with a background in the performing arts. She lived a homesteading life in a rural community on a small island in British Columbia, and looks for ways to bring some of that harmony to her life in the city. She recently got her certificate in permaculture design and is busy experimenting. She is passionate about food and is an armchair sociologist/anthropologist, as well as a student of Zen at the Bay Zen Center in Oakland.
Chris: 34 years old, currently studying to become an acupuncturist, writes a blog on health & nutrition called “The Healthy Skeptic”, surfer, dancer, martial artist, photographer, enjoys cooking, hanging out with friends, reading, and being outdoors. Chris is a student of Darlene Cohen at the Russian River Zen Center.
We’ve been married for almost three and a half years and currently have no children. However, that may soon change so you would need to be open to living with a baby. We are also considering getting a dog in the next few months, so it wouldn’t hurt if you liked dogs! Of course if you have a nice dog that you want to bring with you, that might be just right.
If you’re interested:
Please reply to "whitneyhousemate@me.com" with some information about yourself. Please include any experience you have living cooperatively. If it seems like a good fit, we'll get in touch and set up an interview.
-------------------------------
Here's a notated map of the neighborhood:
img.skitch.com/20090402-t...bxjcn8t.png
Local-healthy-organic-artistic-community-loving couple seeking another like-minded couple to share spacious Oakland home and garden. The rent is $1150 and includes a bedroom, another room that could be used as an office/workspace and shared use of the meditation/movement space, kitchen, living room and bathrooms. Shared meals ala Weston A Price, shared gardening including chickens, and shared intention of inching ourselves closer to sustainable living. Wanting to live with others who are tidy, openly communicative and committed to living cooperatively. Move-in date is negotiable, sometime between May 1st to June 1st.
The House:
The main house is approximately 1900 sq. feet with wood floors, natural light, a living room, large meditation/movement room, and two rooms that were designed as bedrooms but are currently being used as offices/workspaces. In the back is a large “cottage-style” studio bedroom with separate entrance, and on the ground floor we recently built another bedroom which also has a separate entrance.
The kitchen is spacious and well-equipped, with a sweet little breakfast nook. There is one full bathroom and another half-bath. We also have a full-size clawfoot tub with hot & cold water spigots in a cozy corner in the garden that we use for outdoor “Esalen-style” baths.
There is a large basement with plenty of space for storage, bikes, equipment etc., as well as washer, dryer and additional freezer.
We have a large backyard garden where we grow a variety of vegetables, herbs and flowers year-round. It gets a good deal of sun and the soil has been tested and is free of heavy metals and chemicals. We also have a small garden in the front of the house.
Your Rooms:
The idea behind the arrangement of rooms is to have private bedrooms that are separated from the main living space of the house. This allows for more privacy and a sense of us each having our own space, while still enjoying the benefits of sharing a large house. Your bedroom would be a recently converted room on the ground-floor with a large, floor-to-ceiling “french door” that opens into the garden. It's a bit funky but it has a lot of character, and it is quite spacious. It also has a small sink with working plumbing and a separate entrance from the main house.
You would also get a room in the house that is approximately 12x15 with a small closet that sits directly off of the kitchen. This room could be used as an office, a workspace, a quiet space, or whatever you’d like to use it for (other than a bedroom). We share the meditation/movement space (gorgeous, large room in the front of the house), and all other living spaces.
The Neighborhood:
The house is situated in a friendly, centrally-located neighborhood right on the border of Oakland and Berkeley. We are two blocks from Ashby Bart and a block from the Nomad Cafe, La Pena Cultural Center, the Starry Plough, Essex St. Hot Tubs. We are walking distance from Berkeley Bowl, Whole Foods and the Tuesday Berkeley Farmer’s Market, and a short bike ride to the Saturday Berkeley Farmer’s Market and the Sunday Oakland/Temescal Farmer’s Market. We are part of a local co-op offering raw milk, raw cheese and free-range, organic meats and pastured eggs, and the pick-up location for this is just two blocks away.
We’ve found that we rarely need to use our car anymore, but when we do freeway access to the 24/580 is very close by and parking is readily available on the street.
Kitchen/Food:
We both follow the Weston A. Price principles of nutrition and eat a diet of organic, nutrient-dense whole foods. We make our own sauerkraut, kefir, yogurt, creme fraiche, and bone broths and bake our own bread regularly. We cook three meals a day for ourselves, so the kitchen is the hub of the home and the center of frequent activity. It is also a temple, of sorts, and we like to treat it like one. Dishes are washed and counters are cleaned after they are used, and our guideline is to leave the kitchen in the same state as we found it (clean!) before we started cooking.
Our relationship to food is a very important part of our life, and we would like to share those values with the people we live with. Ideally we are seeking a couple who is familiar with the Weston A. Price principles and follows them in their own life. Among other things, this means eating locally-grown, organic, nutrient-dense foods. Our hope is that you will be open to sharing meals together and sharing the weekly preparation of ferments (kefir, sauerkraut, yogurt, etc.) and bone broths as well.
We aren’t dogmatic about this and we don’t make personal judgments about people who don’t follow this approach to nutrition. We have many close friends who do not. However, we’ve found through experience that the home is more harmonious when its inhabitants share a hearth.
We are also intent on producing as much food as we can in our own yard. We would love to share our home with others who garden. We are planning to get chickens and would be happy to have your involvement in the care and rewards of these little feathered friends.
Living Together:
We are both what you might call “homebodies”. We both do at least part of our work from home, and with our love of food and cooking we spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Because of this we try to treat our home as a sanctuary and maintain a warm, comfortable and nourishing environment that serves as a “retreat” from the intensity of urban life.
Communication and personal responsibility are very important to us. We’ve both lived in community a lot over the years and recognize the necessity and benefit of having regular “check-ins” and house meetings to discuss issues as they arise and to simply stay connected to and present with each other.
We share weekly, rotating chores and contribute to the upkeep and general maintenance of the house.
Both of us are keenly aware of how resource depletion and climate change are effecting our environment and economy, and we make an effort to live consciously and minimize our impact. We compost, recycle, re-use plastic bags, avoid buying things packaged in plastic where possible, hang clothes on the line when the weather permits, ride bicycles, walk or use public transportation and try to reduce water use. We’re not zealots about this, and there are certainly areas where we could improve our efforts. But we’d like to live with folks who share an intention to live a more sustainable life.
We have a piano and welcome music in the home. We also enjoy playing games and inviting friends over for meals or tea, although lately we’ve been so busy that we haven’t had much time for social gatherings. We also have a television that we use to watch DVDs - no cable. The TV sits in a beautiful wood cabinet and is not an intrusive presence in the house.
We both go to bed and wake up early. While it’s not necessary that you do the same, we aren’t big fans of noisy house parties that go until late! Our bedroom is in a separate building in the back, however, so normal socializing in the house at late hours isn’t an issue.
Who We Are:
Elanne: 38-years old, Feldenkrais practitioner with a background in the performing arts. She lived a homesteading life in a rural community on a small island in British Columbia, and looks for ways to bring some of that harmony to her life in the city. She recently got her certificate in permaculture design and is busy experimenting. She is passionate about food and is an armchair sociologist/anthropologist, as well as a student of Zen at the Bay Zen Center in Oakland.
Chris: 34 years old, currently studying to become an acupuncturist, writes a blog on health & nutrition called “The Healthy Skeptic”, surfer, dancer, martial artist, photographer, enjoys cooking, hanging out with friends, reading, and being outdoors. Chris is a student of Darlene Cohen at the Russian River Zen Center.
We’ve been married for almost three and a half years and currently have no children. However, that may soon change so you would need to be open to living with a baby. We are also considering getting a dog in the next few months, so it wouldn’t hurt if you liked dogs! Of course if you have a nice dog that you want to bring with you, that might be just right.
If you’re interested:
Please reply to "whitneyhousemate@me.com" with some information about yourself. Please include any experience you have living cooperatively. If it seems like a good fit, we'll get in touch and set up an interview.
-------------------------------
Here's a notated map of the neighborhood:
img.skitch.com/20090402-t...bxjcn8t.png
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